Pay No Attention To
by BuggyQ
Summary: A routine mission becomes...a routine mission with Jennifer Keller when the team runs into trouble off-world while helping a group of humans suffering from an unusual disease.
1. Chapter 1

**Pay No Attention To…**

_A/N: It's my first outing in the SG:A universe, and I'm doing it mainly because I needed to jumpstart the creative juices for my other stuff. I'm an unabashed McKeller fan, so those of you who favor Ronon probably won't enjoy this much, but give it a shot. It's more of a teamfic, anyway, though it features Keller prominently. This grew out of my frustration with Keller always ending up as the damsel in distress (even though those episodes are pretty fun, except for Missing, which was some of the worst Teyla and Keller writing ever (Teyla's not a bitch, and Keller's nowhere near that pathetic, for god's sake)). So here's my shot at giving Jennifer a different role to play. It is also designed to fill what I feel are gaps between The Shrine and Brain Storm, where we simply don't see enough of Keller getting fuzzy feelings for Rodney. This is set sometime soon after Tracker._

_Summary: A routine mission becomes...a routine mission with Jennifer Keller when the team runs into trouble off-world while helping a group of humans suffering from an unusual disease. Rated T, for one naughty word at the very end._

* * *

"Okay," Jennifer Keller said to herself, standing over her currently-empty medkit. "If I'm going to find this in one more trip, I need to be sure I have everything. I'll need samples of everything—soil, water, air, fungi, pollen—wherever I go. So what do I need?"

"I helped Dr. Voight put together a portable environmental scan kit about a month ago," Marie said from behind her. "Would you like me to do another one for you? I kept the list."

Jennifer turned around, smiling. "Yes, please," she said gratefully. "Honestly, Marie, what would I do-?"

"Dr. Keller, would you please come to my office?" Dr. Woolsey's voice came over the communicator.

Jennifer winced. _So much for making it back to Velantea today_, she thought. She'd hoped he'd just rubber-stamp another trip, but she knew that was far too much to hope for given how paranoid he was about off-world travel. "Certainly, Dr. Woolsey. I'll be right up." She glanced over at Marie. "Go ahead and put a kit together for me," she said. "Hopefully, I'll have a use for it today."

"Of course," Marie said, giving her a sympathetic glance. "Good luck."

Jennifer smiled wryly and headed for the door.

"Whatcha doin'?" Rodney said, almost running into her at the door.

"Heading to the principal's office," Jennifer muttered as she walked past him towards the gateroom.

"Uh oh," he said, falling in step next to her. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing," she said, frowning at him. "I just asked to make another trip back to M3Z-441."

This time he frowned. "Still no luck figuring out what's making them sick?"

"No, I'm pretty sure the problem's environmental," she said, "but Woolsey won't approve re-relocating the Denethans until I prove it conclusively. Which is why I need to go back. Which of course means Woolsey's going to make me jump through every single bureaucratic hoop he has before he lets me."

"Maybe I could tell him I found some interesting Ancient ruins," Rodney said.

Jennifer smiled at him. "Thanks, but I think I can handle it. If worse comes to worst, I'll tell him our people may have been exposed to whatever it is."

Rodney looked nervous. "You've been there four times," he said. "More than anybody. Are you sure it's safe to go back?"

"Rodney, I'm fine," Jennifer said, pausing at the stairs up to Woolsey's office. "The Denethans didn't start showing symptoms until they'd been living there for almost two weeks. And it's only the three families, not all of them, which means it has to be fairly localized. And if we keep talking about it," she added, dropping her voice, "Woolsey will hear, and I'll never get back there. So shoo." She waved her hands at him.

"Okay, okay. Just let me know when you're going. I'll come along."

Jennifer smiled at him, surprised. "Even knowing there might be something bad for you there?" she said quietly.

"Well, we won't be there long, right? And you said it's safe for you. You weren't lying, were you?" he said, his eyes narrowing.

"No, of course not," Jennifer said.

"Then I'll come along. Keep you company," he said, smiling and blushing slightly, and then trotted off.

Jennifer watched him go, blushing a little herself. _I should tell him_, she thought for the thousandth time since he'd confessed his love for her while suffering from the Second Childhood. _He deserves to know that I know_. But somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it, not when she was still so uncertain of her own feelings.

_You are __not__ uncertain_, a rebellious part of her said. _You know exactly how you feel. You'd never have risked brain surgery with a freaking electric drill on anyone else. Not even Ronon, no matter how pretty he is. You just couldn't stand the thought of-_

_Shut up_, she told herself. _Now is __not__ the time to rehash all of that_. She sighed, turning to climb the stairs, steeling herself to do battle with Woolsey.

It was every bit as bad as she'd feared. "I'm still not convinced this is necessary," Woolsey said after nearly an hour of debate.

"Well, I am," Jennifer said, her patience fraying to the breaking point. "We sent those people there, sir. If we put them in harm's way, it's our duty to make it right. Otherwise we risk every bit of credibility we've earned in the Pegasus galaxy."

He looked like he was getting a colonoscopy done right in front of her. _Bam_, she thought triumphantly. _That did it. And I didn't even have to bring out the "we've all been exposed" argument._

"Very well," Woolsey said finally. "You have my permission to return to M3Z-441. I'll discuss the security arrangements with Colonel Sheppard."

"Security isn't necessary," Jennifer protested. "We've been there four times, and nothing has happened. That's why we picked that world to begin with."

Woolsey gave her a look. "So now you're a military expert as well, Doctor?"

Jennifer swallowed. _Don't push your luck_, she told herself. "No, sir," she said contritely.

Woolsey nodded. "Good luck, then. I'll expect a full report on your return this evening."

"Tonight?" Jennifer said. "But that's hardly enough time to—"

"Tonight. You leave in two hours, and I expect you back by 1800 hours. That's Atlantis time, to avoid any possible confusion. Understood?"

Jennifer bit her tongue. "Understood," she ground out.

Two hours later, to the minute, Jennifer trudged into the gateroom, struggling under the weight of the kit Marie had put together in record time, rubbing gingerly at her temple with one hand.

"Hey," Rodney said, slinging on his pack. "What's wrong? Headache? Is it bad? Maybe you shouldn't go—"

"Rodney, I'm fine," Jennifer said. "It's just the normal post-Woolsey headache."

"Oh," he said, glancing nervously up at the office. "Still, if you—"

"Hey, Doc," Sheppard said, coming up with Teyla and Ronon right behind him.

Jennifer frowned. "What are all of you doing here? Whatever Woolsey said—"

"Blame him," Sheppard said, nodding at Rodney. "He said he was coming along, and there's no way I'm letting the two of you go off-world alone. That's a recipe for disaster with a side order of catastrophe."

Jennifer stiffened. "It's perfectly safe," she said. "I—"

"That's what you thought about New Athos," Ronon growled.

Teyla looked almost as annoyed as Jennifer felt, but she nodded. "He is correct, Jennifer. I would rather be too cautious than not cautious enough."

Jennifer closed her mouth, pursing her lips. "Fine," she said finally. "The more the merrier. Just don't blame me if you're bored out of your skulls. And don't even think about trying to get me to leave before I'm good and ready. I'm not coming back until I know exactly what's going on, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sheppard said. "I'd rather not have to make this trip twice." He waved to Chuck for the dialing sequence to start, and turned back to Jennifer. "So what's the plan?"

"I go in, get the samples I need and get out. Hopefully," she said. "It all depends on what I find."

"What are you looking for?" Teyla asked curiously.

"Honestly, in this galaxy, I'm not sure," Jennifer admitted. "Given the limited number of people showing symptoms, and the fact that they're all localized to houses on the east side of the village, I suspect there's something in the ground. I'd be willing to bet every one of those houses has a cellar or something-probably something the previous inhabitants dug to hide from culling."

"Like radon," Rodney offered as the gate sequence completed and the wormhole formed.

Jennifer nodded. "Only the symptoms are completely different from that. And I have no idea what compounds in the environment could cause the symptoms I'm seeing." She grimaced. "It really worries me. I'm starting to wonder if the village wasn't culled. Maybe the people abandoned it because of this." She sighed. "Sometimes I really hate this galaxy."

"Okay, then I think we'll just leave you to it," Sheppard said as they started for the gate horizon. "We'll do a quick patrol of the village perimeter to make sure there aren't any nasties hanging around, and then we'll find some way to entertain ourselves." He stopped right before he went through the gate and turned to look at Jennifer, who had to pull up short to avoid bumping into him. "Promise me you won't go wandering off, okay?"

"I wouldn't just—" Jennifer began indignantly, then stopped at the look Sheppard gave her. "Fine. I promise. Just those three houses, I swear."

Sheppard grunted. "I've heard that before," she heard him mutter as he headed into the gate.

"1800 hours," Woolsey called after them as they stepped through. "Not a minute—"

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, as they approached the village, Jennifer was really wishing she'd given in and let Rodney or Ronon carry her pack for her. She was breathing hard by the time they got to the village, and the others had barely broken a sweat. _I really need to find time to work out more_, she thought ruefully. _Even Rodney's doing better than I am_.

"Okay," she said, starting off at a trot towards the east side of the village. "I don't have a lot of time, so you all do whatever you're going to do. I'll be in one of the houses on the east side if you need me. Just ask one of the other villagers, they'll be able to tell you where."

"So can I help? I mean, I could help," Rodney said, his voice changing from puppydog to manly confidence in a second. "I could scan for unusual compounds."

Jennifer nodded, fighting back an indulgent smile. "I can handle the stuff on the interior of the houses, but it'd be good to have a better idea of what's around the village. It's just possible that I missed something on the medical histories I took, and there's something outside the village these families have in common. Maybe while the Colonel does his perimeter check, you could scan the area?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Rodney said. "Happy to help. And I can check for Ancient power sources, too, while I'm at it. Never hurt to have an excuse to come back here, right?"

"Thank you, Rodney," she said. "So…when we get back, um…" She hesitated, trying to catch her breath and her courage at the same time.

"Yeah?" Rodney said.

"I'll buy you a beer," she said all at once, then blushed. "I mean…as a thank you."

"Really?" Rodney said, and his voice was comically high. "Are you sure? I mean, the last time we had beer together, I was kind of—"

"I'm sure, Rodney," Jennifer said gently. "The only reason we haven't done it—I mean, had another beer," she added, blushing slightly, "—since then is because you didn't ask me."

"I was supposed to ask?" Rodney said. "Honestly, who makes up these rules?"

Jennifer gave him a look. "There's a committee at the U.N."

Rodney glared at her. "Seriously, I obviously don't know what I'm doing, so if you're expecting me—"

"I'm not expecting much," Jennifer said, smiling a little to take the sting out of her words. "I think I've seen you at your worst."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Rodney said, looking miserable. "Just ask Katie."

"Rodney," Jennifer said patiently. "Just say yes, okay?"

Rodney looked at her for a moment, then smiled as he realized she really wanted him to say it. "Well, it's your funeral. Yes, sure, great, absolutely!"

"Good," she said.

Neither of them noticed the happy grin Sheppard shot at Teyla. Or the faintly disappointed look on Ronon's face.

* * *

"So you really think it's this place causing my illness?" Mereth, the first Denethan Jennifer had treated, asked. She was exactly where Jennifer had left her two days earlier, in her bed, too dizzy to get up.

"I'm almost certain," Jennifer said. "When you got here, did you find a cellar, or maybe a tunnel, to escape the culling?"

"Both," Mereth said. "There's a wall covered by shelving in the cellar. It swings open, and there's a tunnel. It leads out to the edge of town, almost to the forest. I explored it that first week we got here, and I've been cleaning out decayed food from the cellar since then." She coughed. "So will we have to leave here?"

Jennifer sighed. "It depends on what I find down there. But yes, I think you will. I'm sorry, Mereth. We really thought this place was safe."

"Don't be," Mereth said, and coughed slightly. "We are all grateful to be alive. If we have to start over again somewhere else, we'll manage."

Jennifer smiled. "Well, I need to go down there and take some samples to be sure what we're up against. Once I know what it is, I think I'll be able to come up with a treatment."

Mereth nodded. "The stairs are back there, in the kitchen."

Jennifer waited till she was on the stairs to pull out the respirator she'd brought along. _If there is something in the cellar, better safe than sorry_, she thought. She was regretting not having taken that precaution on her earlier trips, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Hopefully her exposure hadn't been enough to cause any problems. _And if it was, well, I'll just have to find a treatment._

* * *

"So, you and Jennifer have a date," Sheppard said some time later as they were nearing the end of their circuit around the village.

"It would appear so," Rodney said smugly, then looked a little green. "Oh, god, what if I screw it up?"

"If?" Ronon rumbled.

"Relax, McKay," Sheppard said. "If Jennifer still likes you after having been around you as much as she has, I think you'll be fine if you just…be yourself. Just don't overdo it."

"What does that mean?" Rodney said. "How would I overdo it?"

"I don't know," Sheppard said, annoyed. "Just…don't try too hard, y'know?"

"But what if I overdo that?" Rodney said. "I mean, how much is too much, or not enough? I need metrics!"

"You are overthinking this, Rodney," Teyla said. "Just talk to her like you would to me. Only…perhaps…less patronizing," she added apologetically.

Rodney made an indignant noise. "When have I been patronizing to you?"

"Only when you're breathing," Sheppard said dryly.

Rodney looked annoyed, and made a show out of pulling out his scanner and starting to take readings from the area.

Sheppard waited till he'd wandered out of earshot and leaned toward Ronon. "So, you okay with this, Chewie?"

Ronon raised an eyebrow.

Sheppard looked abashed. "Yeah, well, is it going to be a problem?"

Ronon sighed. "Nah. If she really wants him…" He shrugged expressively.

"Women," Sheppard said, nodding in commiseration.

"Be careful, John," Teyla said quietly, "one of us might report you to the committee."

Ronon snorted.

"Uh…guys?" Rodney called, studying his scanner and looking nervous. He looked up at them, frowning. "I think the gate just opened."

Sheppard turned, looking back towards the gate. They were on the far side of the village from it, near the north end. "Okay, let's check it out." He set off at a trot, tapping his communicator as he went. "Hey, Doc, you there?"

No answer. Sheppard swore quietly. "Doctor Keller, please respond."

"Yes, I'm here," her voice came, though it was shrouded in static. "Sorry, I'm in a tunnel, and it must block the signal."

Teyla breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, listen, somebody just came through the gate, so we're going to check it out," Sheppard said. "Stay put. We'll be in touch."

* * *

_Great_, Jennifer thought, climbing the stairs out of the cellar. _I should have known. Of course the fifth trip here, something would go wrong. Woolsey will never let me go off world again_.

"Is something wrong?" Mereth said. She was propped up on one arm, but she was swaying.

"No," Jennifer said, tucking her respirator back into her med kit, along with the samples she'd taken. "Someone just came through the gate. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Did you find anything down in the cellar?"

"Lie back down," Jennifer said, pulling out her stethoscope. "I want to listen to your breathing again. I think I found some possible compounds, but I need to do some more analysis, and I don't have the equipment here to do it. I'll have to go back to Atlantis." She listened to Mereth's lung sounds, and they were even more congested than they'd been before. She sighed. "And I think I need to bring you back to Atlantis with us."

Mereth's eyes went wide. "Is it that bad?"

"No," Jennifer said, trying to sound reassuring. "It's not that it's bad. It's just…my supervisor isn't happy with me coming here so often. It'll be easier for me to treat you if I have you in my infirmary, that's all." She smiled. "As soon as my team gets back, we'll get you loaded onto a stretcher. It'll be fine." She hesitated, then stood up. "Listen, I'm going to go check on Nils next door, okay?"

"Of course," Mereth said.

Jennifer grabbed the med kit and started for the door. Just as she was about to open it, though, Mereth began coughing, a rattling series of coughs that got deeper and more racking as they went on. Jennifer dropped the med kit, grabbed a hypo and headed back in. "Here," she said, injecting the medication. "This should help with the cough. And help—"

Jennifer broke off and her head jolted up as she heard the sound of gunfire. She reached up and tapped her communicator. "Um…are those…guns?" she said.

"Guns! Yes, guns! Lots of guns!" Rodney said, and he sounded like he was running. "Where are you?"

"I'm still with one of the Denethans," Jennifer said. "On the east side of town."

"Okay, stay there," Sheppard said, sounding almost as out of breath as Rodney had. There was another round of gunfire, both over the communicator and outside. "Ronon's on his way to get you. Just stay—oh, crap…"

"Colonel Sheppard?" Jennifer said.

"Listen, ah…you need to find a place to hide," Sheppard said. "We're not going to be able to get to you as soon as I'd like."

"Hide?" Jennifer said. She glanced over at Mereth, and then caught sight of movement out the window. There was a man in a uniform, carrying a gun. And he was coming her way. She dropped to the floor, breathing hard.

"The cellar," Mereth said weakly. "Hurry."

"But what about you?" Jennifer said, raising her head so she could see her. "I can't just—"

"I'm not going anywhere," Mereth said, "and I won't be the cause of your death. Go, quickly. I'm no threat to anyone. They'll probably just ignore me. Go into the passage. It leads to a shed on the edge of the town. From there, you might be able to make it into the forest."

Jennifer hesitated, but there was more gunfire, much closer this time, and the sound of footsteps outside. She reached out and squeezed Mereth's hand, then scrambled over to the door to the kitchen.

_The med kit_, she thought, kicking herself for almost forgetting it, but when she glanced back, she saw a shadow in the hallway by the door. She ducked through the door and darted down the stairs to the cellar, hoping whoever it was didn't come in.

It was dark in the cellar, but there was just enough light from the stairwell for her to see the shelving. She ran over to it and pulled it carefully away from the wall, grateful when it moved as smoothly and quietly as it had the first time.

She ducked into the narrow passage, pulling the shelving closed behind her, and was immediately furious with herself for having left the med kit, and her flashlight, behind. The darkness around her was oppressive. _Don't think about it_, she thought, and the moment she thought it, she was back in the isolation room, trapped in a pink cocoon, with the darkness closing in around her, and that awful voice... _Stop it_, she told herself. _Focus._ She tapped her communicator. "C-colonel, I'm hidden. If I have to, I might be able to get out of the town from here. What should I do?"

There was no response, not even static.

Jennifer held her breath. "Rodney?" she said. "Can you hear me?"

_There's no way the signal's going to get through with the door shut_, she thought. She debated going out into the cellar again, but she didn't dare risk it. If she was caught, they might hurt Mereth. _Okay_, she thought. _Down the tunnel. I can get to the shed, contact the others, and decide what to do from there._

She felt her way along the walls with both hands, turned sideways because the passage was so narrow. Her shoulders brushed the walls as it was, and she tried very hard not to think about the dark.

Which meant it was all she could think about. "Stop it," she whispered aloud. "You can move. It's not the same at all. Just stop it." _Think about the compounds you found_, she told herself silently. _What treatment—?_

_The respirator_. She groaned inwardly. _I left the respirator, too. Damn it! _But there was nothing she could do about it now. She tried to take shallow breaths as she shuffled along the tunnel. She started counting her steps to keep her mind occupied, and had made it to eighty-three when she tripped on a step up and fell forward, catching herself on the stairs with her hands.

She crawled up them feeling above her with her hands to avoid banging her head, and touched a wood panel. She carefully pushed up on it, and even the dim light in the tiny shed was blinding. And just about the best thing she'd ever seen in her life.

She waited till her eyes adjusted and looked out through the thin crack to be sure she would be hidden. Once she was sure she was safe, she tapped her communicator again.

"Colonel, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Sheppard said. "We're a little busy right now." More gunfire. "Hang on."

Jennifer left the channel open, hoping she wouldn't hear anything awful. _They're fine_, she told herself. _Rodney and Teyla and Ronon and the Colonel know what they're doing. They're fine._

"Okay," Sheppard said finally, "where are you, Doc?"

"In a shed, on the east side of town, close to the forest," she said. "I came down a tunnel from-"

"How close to the forest?" Sheppard interrupted.

Jennifer lifted the trap door, crawled over to the door of the shed, and peeked through the crack of the door. "Maybe…fifty meters?" she said uncertainly.

Sheppard swore quietly. "Okay, for the moment, stay where you are. We're going to try to get to you."

"Sheppard," Ronon's voice cut in. "There's more of 'em. Coming in from the east side."

Jennifer heard movement outside the shed, and scrambled back down into the tunnel, closing the trap door above her.

"How many?" Teyla said.

"Too many," Ronon said. "I count at least fifteen, and I think there's more."

Sheppard swore again, and then there was a sound of a scuffle over the communicator, followed by an angry roar that could only have come from Ronon.

"Ronon!" Sheppard said. "Where are you, buddy?"

There was no answer.

* * *

"What do we do?" Rodney said, firing his gun over the cart he was hiding behind without looking.

"On my mark, you go for that alley," Sheppard said, tilting his head toward the narrow gap between houses just behind them. "I'll cover you. Teyla, you go with him."

Teyla nodded.

"Okay, now!" Sheppard said, and fired several short bursts at the uniformed men on the other side of the plaza.

"I have you covered, John," Teyla called a moment later. "Go!"

Sheppard scrambled to his feet and dashed into the alley, skidding to a stop just behind Teyla. Unfortunately, he could now see uniformed men running across the plaza to both sides. _We don't have much time_, he thought. "Down the alley," he said, patting Teyla's shoulder. She darted to the other side of the alley and began backing down it, keeping her eyes trained on the plaza. She fired a quick burst as she saw movement, and Sheppard saw muzzle flashes from the far side of the cart they'd just been using as cover.

"Keller!" Sheppard said, firing steadily as he backed down the alley. "If you can hear me, get the hell out of here!"

"What?!" Rodney shouted. "What are you talking about?"

"We're getting cut off," Sheppard said, keeping his voice just low enough Rodney could hear it over the gunfire. "Those guys shooting at us are just keeping us pinned down till the rest of 'em flank us."

"So we de-flank them!" Rodney yelled, his voice comically high. "She can't go out there on her own! You don't know what's outside the town!"

"I'm betting it's better than what's in it," Sheppard muttered. "Besides, I think they've already passed her position."

"John is correct," Teyla said, glancing back at Rodney as she backed down the other side of the alley. "Jennifer may be better off making a run for the gate."

"Yeah, right," Rodney said derisively. "This is Jennifer we're talking about. With her track record, she'll probably fall down a well, break her ankle, catch pneumonia, and then get captured by these guys."

Sheppard had to admit he had a point. But whatever Keller's luck had been, he was hoping this was the time for the law of averages to work in their favor.

There was a momentary lull in the gunfire coming from outside the alley. "Rodney, find us a spot to hole up. We're sitting ducks out here," Sheppard said.

Rodney turned, muttering something under his breath, and tried to open a door into one of the buildings. It wouldn't budge, even when he threw his shoulder into it. "Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his shoulder. He turned and looked down the alley. "Oh, crap," he breathed.

"Put down your weapons!" one of the men pointing a gun at him from the end of the alley said. He was wearing a Genii uniform, though he looked pretty scruffy.

Rodney raised his hands, dropping his gun as he did. Sheppard turned and looked like he'd eaten something disgusting. He nodded at Teyla, and they both raised their hands.

"Find the other one," the man snapped at the cluster of men behind him.

"What other one?" Rodney said, all innocence. "There isn't anybody else. Just us."

"What about the big fellow?" the man said dryly, coming up and grabbing Rodney's gun from the ground. "And whoever you were calling to just now."

"Oh," Rodney said. "The big guy. Right. Forgot about him. But that's it. We weren't calling to anyone. I mean, we were, but he was who we were calling to. Just the big guy."

"Bring them," the man said, ignoring him. "And make sure the men at the gate keep their eyes open."

Sheppard groaned inwardly. He'd been hoping this was just a small team, but it sounded like practically a full-scale invasion. _Just keep your head down, Jennifer_, he thought, hoping somehow she'd get the message. _Keep your head down and wait for the cavalry._

* * *

Jennifer skidded to a stop in a clearing, looking back over her shoulder, breathing hard. Waiting in the tunnel had been a nightmare. She could hear the others, and knew it was bad. And then Colonel Sheppard had yelled at her to run. She'd felt like a traitor leaving them behind, but she knew that if he thought she was better off making a run for it, they weren't going to make it out themselves.

Which meant that she was the only hope they had of getting backup. She had to get to the gate and call for help. So she'd made the dash to the treeline outside the town, praying as she sprinted that no one would see her. She'd been convinced she couldn't possibly make it, but somehow she had gotten lucky. She had kept running directly away from the town for another hundred meters before she finally felt like she could take a moment to catch her breath.

_But now what?_ she thought, wheezing, her hands on her knees. She was on the far side of the town from the gate, so she had to circle around the town to get back to it. _But which way?_

She caught sight of movement in the trees behind her, and a faint sound of voices.

_Damn it!_ she thought. _I guess that decides it. I have to lose these guys before I can try for the gate._ She turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry her directly away from the voices, hoping she could run faster than whoever was after her.

* * *

"So," the Genii officer said, standing in front of Sheppard and the others. They were on their knees, hands bound behind them, in the central plaza of the town. Except for Ronon, who was sprawled face-down, out cold. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Why have you attacked us?" Teyla said. "We have an understanding with the Genii. Your leader—"

"I have no leader," the Genii officer said. "Since the coup, my men and I have been acting as…free agents."

"Captain Venis," one of the other Genii said, coming up. "Raden just called in. He spotted someone running from the town to the east. They are pursuing."

"Veenis?" Rodney said, his voice incredulous even at a whisper. "Are you kidding me?"

Venis nodded curtly and turned back to look at Sheppard. "Obviously, our intelligence was accurate," he said. "There is something of value on this planet. Why else would Atlantis send you here?"

Sheppard frowned. "Value?" he said. "You got it all wrong, Venis. We're here to help these people. There's a disease—"

Venis waved his hand dismissively. "Of course there is," he said sarcastically. "And if you just happen to find an Ancient fortress while treating this 'disease,' so much the better, right?"

"Ancient fortress?" Sheppard said, wishing for once he was just playing stupid. "There's an—"

"Look," Rodney cut in. "Just let us go. You know we're from Atlantis, and your guys haven't exactly had good luck going up against us before. You let us go, you can have your fortress, and we'll just be on our way."

Venis ignored him. "I assume one or more of you can operate Ancient technology," he said. "Which of you is it?"

Sheppard clenched his jaw.

Venis sighed. "We have a problem," he said. "We haven't been able to get into the fortress. I'd like very much to fix that problem. And one of you is going to help me. The others will suffer a great deal of unnecessary pain. Now, since I don't know which of you has the ability I need, I'm going to have to be careful not to kill you. But luckily for all of us, I'm very good at extracting information."

"That won't be necessary," Rodney said, sounding resigned. "I can do it."

"McKay!" Sheppard growled.

"What?" Rodney said. "Look, you may be into playing the stoic hero role, but I'm not. So listen, uh, Captain…Penis was it?"

"Venis," he corrected, his voice icy, and Sheppard prayed Rodney could keep a straight face.

"Right, Captain Venis," Rodney said ingratiatingly. "You just point me to this fortress of yours, and I'll be happy to help you out."

Venis smiled. "Excellent," he said. "Bring them. If you are unable to do what you say," he added, leaning over Rodney, "I will not hesitate to punish you."

The Genii dragged them to their feet and started off to the east, two of them grabbing Ronon and dragging him along with them.

"Great going, Rodney," Sheppard said under his breath once they'd made it out of the town. The path they were following was narrow enough that they had to go single-file, and the men in front and behind them might not be able to hear them. He hoped.

"I know what I'm doing," Rodney said quietly.

"I sure hope so," Sheppard said. "What do you think this fortress is?"

"Beats me. But if it is Ancient tech," Rodney said under his breath, "I'm hoping there's a Zed P.M. in it. At least this way, we have a shot at finding out."

"Shut up and walk," one of the Genii said menacingly.

_Two hours till we're due to check in_, Sheppard thought as they trudged along. _Hopefully, Woolsey will be pissed enough at Keller to send somebody after us right away. So a minimum of two hours. Unless Keller actually managed to get to the gate. In which case—_

"Raden, report," Captain Venis said in his radio.

"We're following the Lantean's trail," Raden said, his voice barely audible to Sheppard. "We're getting close to the cliff. The Lantean has nowhere to run. We'll have him soon."

"Good," Venis said. "Bring him to the fortress once you have him."

"Yes, sir," Raden said.

_Idiot_, Sheppard said to himself. _You know better than to tempt fate with wishful thinking._ He glanced back at Rodney and tried to smile reassuringly.

Rodney looked like he'd been kicked in the stomach.

* * *

Jennifer tripped over a root and went sprawling, the breath knocked out of her for an instant. She struggled back to her feet, looking back over her shoulder. She thought she'd managed to gain a little ground on her pursuers, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep it up. Her legs were getting rubbery.

She started off again, her pace barely more than a fast walk, but it was the best she could manage. As it turned out, that was a good thing. If she'd been moving any faster, she might have run right off the cliff she suddenly found in front of her. As it was, she skidded to a stop, her arms wheeling to keep herself from tipping over the edge.

_End of the line_, she thought, looking frantically to her left and then her right. The cliff ran for what looked like miles, and she couldn't see any way down what looked like a drop of a hundred miles, though she knew it was probably only a hundred meters or so. _And there's no way I can get away from them running along the edge_, she thought. _They'll be here any second. _She groaned. _Why did it have to be a cliff? Why not a river, or even a face-hugging alien, or, god, __anything__ but a cliff?_

She leaned over the edge of the cliff, her heart pounding as she fought off the horrible feeling of vertigo, and felt an even worse sinking feeling when she realized she might actually be able to climb down it, at least to a point. It looked like there was a ledge a few meters down just to her left, and there were footholds almost to the point of steps.

_Jesus_, she thought. _This is the worst trip ever. I'm going to have to face every single phobia I have._ She swallowed hard. _God, please, not sharks…_

She looked back over her shoulder, but still couldn't see anything. _Okay_, she told herself. _Okay, you can do this. Just don't look down._ She got down on her hands and knees and tried to back over the edge, but she froze, one foot in space. _Come on_, she told herself, _you have to do this. You have to get away, or Rodney and the others don't have a chance. Come on!_

Jennifer managed to reach her foot down to the first foothold. _Keep going. It's just a few steps. Get down to the ledge, and you can hide there._ She took another step down, her hands still on the cliff top, and thought her heart was going to leap out of her chest. _Don't hyperventilate_, she told herself, and tried to use one of the calming techniques Teyla had taught her. It helped enough for her to get down another couple of steps, though she was clinging to the side of the cliff so tightly she felt like her hands were never going to straighten out again.

_One step_, Jennifer told herself. _Just take one more step._ It became a litany, a mantra she repeated over and over, trying to keep calm and failing utterly.

"Atlantis officer!" a man's voice called from above, and Jennifer froze, looking up, but she couldn't see him, and his voice sounded like it was coming from farther away than just the top of the cliff. "You can't escape. Give yourself up, and you will not be harmed!"

Jennifer had to fight the urge to call out for help. _Keep going_, she told herself harshly. _You're almost there!_ And then suddenly, amazingly, she had one foot on the edge of the ledge she'd seen. She shifted her weight, trying not to look at the sickening drop below her, and her foot slipped.

She shrieked, feeling herself sliding off into nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Pay No Attention To…**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Captain," Raden said over the radio, "I'm sorry, but we won't be bringing the other one back."

"What do you mean?" Venis snapped angrily.

"She fell off the cliff," Raden said.

Rodney made a strangled noise from behind Sheppard, and he turned to look at him. Rodney's face had gone gray. Teyla stepped up and leaned into Rodney, trying to offer what comfort she could.

"She? I thought you said it was a man," Venis said.

"I heard a woman scream," Raden said, but he sounded faintly uncertain. "She must have fallen trying to climb down."

Venis gritted his teeth in frustration. "Is there a way down the cliff?"

"Not easily," Raden said, sounding resigned. "We'd have to get rope, and it's quite a ways down."

Venis sighed. "Post a man at the top of the cliff. If she's alive, and makes it back to the top, I want her. But the rest of you get back here."

"Yes, sir," Raden said.

"Come on," Venis said, starting off again at a fast pace.

Rodney stumbled, almost falling, but managed to keep his feet.

"Don't give up on her, Rodney," Teyla whispered, trying to stay close to him as they walked.

"She's scared of heights," Rodney said, his voice rough with emotion. "Terrified."

"She's tougher than she looks, McKay," Sheppard said under his breath. "Kinda like you."

Rodney didn't even acknowledge the compliment.

* * *

Jennifer lay sprawled face-down on the ledge, sobbing in terror. She had no idea how she'd managed to land on the ledge, but she must have hit her shins on the edge of it somehow. The left one was throbbing with that sickening pain you get when you stub your toe, and her right knee wasn't much better.

After an eternity of ragged breaths, she crawled forward into what seemed to be a deep cave. She couldn't make herself get to her feet, or even her knees, she just slithered forward with as much of her body on the reassuringly hard floor of the cave as she could manage, grateful beyond words for the chance to get away from the awful drop behind her.

She made it a couple of meters in and glanced back at the ledge, and her eyes widened in surprise.

It wasn't a ledge at all. It was a balcony. She must have hit the railing as she fell, and that had been just enough to tip her onto the balcony. _God, I am so lucky_, she thought, horrified at how close a call she'd had.

She looked up and around the cave, and realized there was a wall sconce just above her that looked almost identical to the ones on Atlantis. She looked down, and finally noticed that the floor was far too smooth to be natural, though it was covered in a deep layer of dust. Her clothes were caked with it. She took another deep breath and immediately sneezed.

She looked back at the balcony, hoping the sound hadn't carried far enough for the men above her to hear. She waited for a long moment, and then realized that if they had heard, she was better off farther in. She crawled over to the wall and used it to help get to her feet. Her legs were still watery, both from the exertion of the run and from the terror of her near-death fall. But she managed to stay on her feet and started back down the hallway.

It got dark fast, the light from the balcony fading into nothing as she got deeper in, and she had to feel her way along the wall. In Atlantis, the lights came on automatically, but they weren't doing that here. _Great, another trek down a dark tunnel. The power must be out_, she thought. _So how the hell am I going to find my way through here?_ She had almost nothing with her, just her communicator—

_My communicator_, she thought suddenly, and started to reach for it, then froze. If she tried to reach the others and they'd already been captured or—

She broke off the thought, refusing to even consider it. She sighed. She couldn't risk it. she'd have to wait for them to try to contact her. Or get out on her own.

"Suck it up, Keller," she whispered. "You need to call in the cavalry." _But how do I do that if I'm stuck inside an Ancient outpost, with no way out but a climb up a cliff, no power and no lights?_

"What would Teyla do? Or Sam?" she asked herself, and sighed. _She'd keep going, find the control room, and find a way to destroy the bad guys and save the day. And knowing Sam, she'd probably find a cure for cancer in the process._ She grimaced, then felt for the wall again and started forward, limping uncertainly into the darkness. _Maybe I can manage the cure for cancer_, she thought. _Think about that. Think about the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Think about how you say "Thank you," in Norwegian. Anything but the dark._

* * *

"Here we are," Venis said, coming up to an oddly symmetrical pile of rocks near a cliff. "Now is your chance to prove your value to me," he added, nodding at Rodney. "Get us inside."

Rodney nodded absently, although Sheppard wasn't sure he'd really understood Venis until he walked over to the rocks. "I'll need my hands free," he said quietly, sounding completely unlike the Rodney McKay he knew.

Venis nodded at one of his men, who released Rodney's hands from behind him. He went up to the rocks and began looking around vaguely. "You're sure there's an entrance here?" he said after several minutes.

"According to the records we found, there has to be," Venis said. "But if you're unable to find it, perhaps we could see if one of your friends has a high tolerance for pain."

"I didn't say I couldn't find it," Rodney said with some asperity. "I just wanted to be sure I wasn't wasting my time looking in the wrong place," and Sheppard breathed a sigh of relief. _At least he hasn't shut down completely_, he thought. _We need him thinking._

"How long until your people come looking for you?" Venis said to Sheppard.

He shrugged. "At least a day," he lied. "Probably more. We're not supposed to check in until nightfall here, and they're kinda used to McKay there being slow on check-in."

"That is unfair, Colonel Sheppard," Teyla said. "That has only happened a few times. Four or five, at most."

"I heard that," Rodney muttered.

"Besides," Teyla continued, "have you not been late yourself on a number of occasions?"

"Touché," Sheppard said.

Venis studied Sheppard's face for a long moment, then turned to Rodney. "You have one hour," he said.

"I'm an honest guy," Sheppard said, wounded. "Why doesn't anybody ever believe me?"

"I won't need that long," Rodney said smugly. He pressed his hand against a piece of rock that looked just like any other bit to Sheppard, but there was an audible click, and then a portion of the rock face pulled back and then slid to the side.

Sheppard leaned around McKay to look inside, but it was dark. "Doesn't look like anybody's home," he said. "Maybe we should come back another time. We could call first—bring flowers, maybe. Or cake."

"You will lead the way, Sheppard," Venis said, and he moved behind Sheppard to unfasten his hands. He handed him a handheld light. "I will be right behind you."

Sheppard took the light. "Sure, no problem," he said. "Most of the guys we lose are in the back, anyway." He turned and smiled at the last Genii soldier in line, who looked nervous.

* * *

Jennifer shuffled through the darkness for a long time, feeling her way along the wall, without feeling any change in the corridor. Not a door, not a branching hallway, nothing. But after a while she started to feel like the corridor was angling up slightly.

_How far does this thing go?_ she thought tiredly. The pain in her shins had eased, but even as that pain let up, her head was pounding even worse than it had after her argument with Woolsey. _I hope the air in here isn't as bad as Mereth's cellar_, she thought._ Maybe I should turn ar—_"Oof," she said, and stumbled back from the wall she'd just run into.

Only it couldn't be a wall. She'd had her hand out in front of her, feeling along the wall to her right, so it must be a railing. Or maybe a console. She felt along the top of it, but there were no buttons, just something smooth. So a railing. Which meant there were probably stairs nearby.

_That's the Ancients for you_, she thought. _Long hallways going uphill so you can have a grand staircase. Completely impractical. For such an advanced race, their architecture is surprisingly non-functional. But a grand staircase could lead to an exit that doesn't involve a cliff…_

She felt her way along the railing, careful to test each step forward to be sure she didn't pitch herself down a staircase. She was proud of her foresight when she felt the step drop away from her. She felt carefully downward with her foot and found the step.

She was about to start working her way down the stairs when she heard a sound somewhere down and to her right. She turned, and her eyes widened as she saw what could only be a flashlight beam dancing along a wall far below. She froze, trying to decide what to do, and then heard a voice.

"That's far enough, Sheppard," the voice said, and the flashlight stopped getting closer. "What do you see?"

Jennifer didn't recognize the voice, and it didn't sound friendly. She started to back away from the railing. But there was nothing but the long hallway behind her. If she started back down that, and they came down it, she'd be a sitting duck.

"It looks like an open space, maybe a meeting hall or something," Sheppard said. "I can't see much from this angle."

Jennifer could just make out the staircase in front of her in the dim light reflecting from Sheppard's light. It looked like there might be a hallway leading off from a landing a few meters below her. She tiptoed down the stairs and darted over to the dark space. It was an alcove. _But is there a door?_ she thought, feeling along the walls. _And if there is, will it open if there's no power? Please, please, let there be a door, and please, please, please, let it open, and if it opens, please, please, please, please don't let the lights come on till the door shuts_, she prayed silently.

There was, and it did, and they didn't. She ducked inside and heard the door slide shut behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief. And then a few feeble lights came on. _Well, it's about time_, she thought to whatever it was that had answered her prayer.

"Okay…" she breathed, looking around the dimly-lit room. It was clearly a control room of some sort. _Score one for following in Sam's footsteps_, she thought, smiling to herself. She darted over to the main console, hoping she could remember enough Ancient and enough of Rodney's instructions about Ancient tech that she could figure out something useful. _Like how to lock the door_, she thought. _Or, maybe…_

* * *

"Captain Venis," one of the men carrying Ronon said, "do we have to keep dragging this one along? Couldn't we just tie him up and leave him someplace?"

"And risk him freeing himself?" Venis said derisively. "Don't be an idiot. You'll carry him until he wakes up."

Sheppard grinned to himself. He had no doubt Ronon had been conscious for some time, biding his time until he saw an opportunity to strike. _Which will hopefully come soon_, he thought.

"Proceed, Sheppard," Venis said. "But only until you can see the rest of the room."

Sheppard took a few steps farther, and found himself in an open space not unlike the gate room on Atlantis. But there wasn't a gate in this space, just a staircase leading up, and a series of hallways branching out in all directions. He described it for Venis, who came up beside him a moment later.

"Where would the control room be?" Venis said. "Or any other room with technology we could scavenge?"

"Beats me," Sheppard said. "This isn't a layout I'm familiar with. But up is usually a good bet." _And stairs up would be a perfect place for Ronon to do his thing_, he thought hopefully.

Apparently Venis had the same thought. "You stay down here with him," he said to the men carrying Ronon. "You, too," he added to the dozen men behind them. "The rest of you, come with me. Sheppard, you and your two friends can lead the way to the most likely spot for the control room."

Sheppard grimaced, not liking the odds, especially without Ronon to help even them. Three against seven might be doable if Teyla had her hands free. But she didn't, and they had no weapons. _So we wait_, he thought, hoping Ronon had the good sense to wait a little longer, too.

He led the way up the stairs to the first landing, glancing at Rodney as they got to the landing. He tilted his head toward the alcove with a door, and Rodney shrugged. "Looks as likely as anything," Rodney said tiredly.

Sheppard stepped forward and waved his hand over the door sensor.

Nothing happened.

"The power's out," Sheppard said. "I don't think it's gonna open."

"Pry it open," Venis said.

"Are you kidding?" Rodney said. "I'll bet you tried that with the outside door, too, didn't you? How'd that work out for ya?"

Venis gave him a sour look. "Pry it open," he repeated.

Rodney shook his head. "Ancient doors are designed like watertight doors. The power goes out, and they lock down. Frankly, I'm surprised the exterior door opened. It must be on emergency power. But this door isn't going to open."

Venis looked for a moment like he might argue the point, but he finally shook his head. "Fine. Let's try another."

* * *

Jennifer let out a sigh of relief when she saw the life signs dots on the console's screen moving away from her lonely dot again. _Okay_, she thought. _ I know how to lock a door. That's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Next up, trying to figure out which of those dots is which._ The life signs detector was very similar to the ones she was used to, but as near as she could tell, it didn't recognize the subcutaneous transponders they carried. Or at least it didn't yet.

_But what do I do when I know who's who?_ she thought, studying the console helplessly. _It's not like I have a transporter and can just beam the good guys to safety. I have no weapons. I don't even know how to operate a tenth of what I have in front of me. I'm not Sam. I'm not-_

_Rodney._ She stopped cold. _What if I could get Rodney to tell me what to do? He'd know exactly what to do if he were in here. I just need to get him in here. Or…if I could talk to him. No, they'd hear him if he talked on his communicator. But…_

_Communications._ She looked all over the console, trying to remember what the communications system looked like. She found something that looked right, but hesitated. _I need to think this through. He's out there with bad guys listening in, so I can't just say, "Hey, Rodney, how do I take out the bad guys?" So it'll have to be in code somehow. And it'd be better if the bad guys didn't know it's me in here. If I'm lucky, they think I fell off the cliff, and it'd be best if they kept thinking that._

"You're in an Ancient outpost," she said out loud. "So be an Ancient." She thought back through everything she'd heard about the Ancients and their behavior. Janus had been arrogant and self-assured, and that seemed to be a common thread in most of the stories. "Okay, so just be the opposite of how you'd normally be," she muttered. _But what about the voice? Should I go for big and scary?_ "God, no," she muttered to herself. "They'd never buy it from me. So…Teyla when she's pissed off."

She thought through her plan for several minutes, trying to ignore the growing ache in her head, making sure she hadn't missed something important, and then took a deep breath.

Mistake. The dust was even worse in the room, and she immediately coughed. She took a moment, breathing carefully, then put an imperious look on her face, and pressed the button she hoped would broadcast throughout the complex.

"Who dares to disturb the great and powerful Oz?" she said, and was gratified to hear it ring out over the speakers. _And it sounds kind of cool._

* * *

"What the…?" Rodney said, his eyes widening, though luckily he looked more stunned than overjoyed. He turned to look at Sheppard. "Oz?"

Sheppard shrugged, glancing over at Teyla, who looked even more baffled. _Well, now I know what we're watching on our next team movie night_, he thought.

"I see signs of Lantean technology among you," the voice continued, soft, but with a dangerous edge to it. "I warn you, I am Oz, she who Janus was unable to defeat. If you test my patience, you will not leave this place alive."

Sheppard fought back a smile. _Jennifer's really selling it. If I didn't know it was her, I'd be nervous._ He glanced over at Venis, and he had to fight back another smile. Venis looked nervous.

"She who Janus…?" Rodney said, frowning, then he raised his eyebrows.

"Who is this?" Venis said. "Do you know of this Oz?"

"It can't be the real Oz," Rodney said. "She had to have died…like, ten thousand years ago!"

"Ten thousand years is a blink of an eye for one as powerful as myself," the voice said.

Venis looked shocked. "It's listening to us!" he said.

"Duh!" Rodney said. "Even if it's a recording, Ancient tech allows for interaction."

"You have not yet explained yourself," Jennifer/Oz said.

"Forgive our intrusion," Rodney said, simpering arrogantly, as only Rodney could, "oh, great and powerful Oz. We mean you no harm."

"As you meant no harm to the creature who fell from the cliff?" Jennifer said.

Venis looked even more nervous.

"Even if I believed you, the lack of intent to harm does not always mean that harm will not be done," Jennifer continued. "I did not live this long without learning caution."

"You are as wise as the stories say," Teyla said.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Jennifer said. "If you wish to prove your peaceful intentions, you must pass my tests."

"Tests?" Venis said. "What tests?"

"Of course there'd be tests," Sheppard muttered, annoyed. "There's always tests with these guys. They're like the College Board of extraterrestrials."

"Simple enough tasks for Lanteans," Jennifer said, her voice almost silky over the speaker. "I wish to have proof of your origins and proof that you are not in league with Janus and his ilk. If you prove yourself worthy, I may consent to speak further. If not…" She trailed off menacingly.

"Can you pass these tests?" Venis whispered to Rodney.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "There isn't a test in the universe I can't pass," he said under his breath.

Venis looked unconvinced, but nodded. "We agree to your terms, Oz. But how do we know that you will uphold your end of this bargain?"

"Don't make her mad," Sheppard stage whispered. "From what I heard, she's kinda..." He trailed off, waggling his hands around his head.

"There is no bargain," Jennifer said. "You have a choice: you may take my tests or not. It matters not to me. I will simply return to my sleep, and leave you here to rot."

Venis frowned. "What do you mean?" he said. He glanced back down the stairs. He went over to the railing. "Check the door!" he called down to the men watching Ronon.

One of them trotted toward the hallway they'd entered through, but as he reached the archway, a forcefield flared into view, flinging the man back into the room.

"Okay," Sheppard said brightly, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. "So what's the first test?"

* * *

_Here's where it gets interesting_, Jennifer thought. "When Janus made his misguided attempt to destroy me, how was I able to foil his plan?"

"Huh?" Rodney said.

_Come on, Rodney, figure it out!_ Jennifer thought. "Come now, a true Lantean would know the story, but one who followed Janus would not. Such an ego could not stand others knowing of his abject failure."

"Oh, uh, right," Rodney said, but he sounded nervous. "How did you foil his plan…" he said.

"You were in your control room, right?" Sheppard said. He shrugged when Rodney looked over at him. "And Janus and his men had gotten past your shields and into your lab?"

"That much anyone could guess," Jennifer said. _Thank you, Colonel!_

"The control room! Right! So could you, um, describe the console?" Rodney said. "I know the basic outlines of the story, but I...ah...I assume you want the details, and from what I understand, your systems were more advanced even than Janus."

"You are stalling," Jennifer said imperiously. "But I will tell you this much. In the center console, there were twelve buttons along the top row, with three rows."

"Got it," Rodney said. "So Janus had infiltrated your lab, which meant you didn't have access to the rest of the facility, so your options were limited."

Jennifer sighed. "I am growing impatient," she said.

"Hang on, I'm getting there. I just need to work it through in my head—I haven't heard the story in a long time," Rodney said. He looked sidelong at Sheppard.

"What is wrong? Don't you know the answer?" Venis whispered.

"History was never my best subject!" Rodney hissed.

"So guess—if it was you, and you had to figure out how to stop somebody like Janus…?" Sheppard prompted almost inaudibly.

"Perhaps the life support systems?" Teyla whispered.

Rodney shook his head. "Too risky—there'd be no way to isolate the control room," he said. "Wait—you had defense systems!"

"Perhaps," Jennifer said, looking over the console. _What do they look like? Give me a clue, Rodney!_

"The center row, third from the left," Rodney said.

Jennifer pressed the button, but nothing happened. "You fail the test," Jennifer said. "You should have known that Janus had cut off the power to the control room."

"You fool!" Venis snapped, pointing his gun at Rodney menacingly. "You'll get us all killed!"

"No, no, no!" Rodney said. "I was getting to that! You were too clever to rely only on one system for your power. You had a backup system. Bottom row, far left! You engaged the backups…but, wait—"

Jennifer pressed the button, and the dimly lit console brightened noticeably. And systems started to come on all over the complex. _Uh-oh_, she thought.

"What is happening?" Venis said. "Oz, I demand to know what you are doing!"

"Hold, please," Jennifer said, and cut the channel. _Crap, crap, crap!_ she thought. _How do I explain this? Damn it, I should have let Rodney finish! Think…what can you do to get out of this? Think!_

Sheppard fought back yet another grin. _Add one more movie to the movie night list_, he thought, trying hard not to replay Jennifer's perky "Hold, please," in his head.

"What is happening?" Venis said, waving his gun in Rodney's face. "What did you do?"

"Me!?" Rodney said. "I didn't do anything! She didn't let me finish!"

"If you gave her the wrong answer, and you get us killed, I'll—" Venis began, and then stopped, unable to come up with a threat worse than death, and Sheppard had to fight back another grin.

"Rodney, perhaps we should try to figure out how to disable the forcefield," Teyla said. "Our best chance is to get out of here before Oz decides to do something more than simply keep us captive."

"Teyla's right," Sheppard said. "Look around, everybody! See if you can find any other consoles, access panels, anything we can use to get at the systems in this room!"

Venis and his men started looking around, though they carefully avoided any of the exits from the room.

"Rodney, you focus on remembering everything you can about Oz," Sheppard said. "Once we find something, we'll get you on that, but I want you to figure out what to tell her next if she comes back on."

"Over here!" one of Venis's men called, waving them over to a console he'd found on the lower level. Venis started down the stairs.

Sheppard grabbed Teyla. "Try to get Jennifer on the comm," he whispered. "Find out what you can. We'll distract Venis." She nodded, and he tapped her communication headset for her, then started after Venis.

"Jennifer," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Oh, thank god, Teyla! Are you all right?" Jennifer said immediately. "What about Rodney? I didn't screw things up for you, did I?"

"Quite the contrary," Teyla murmured, keeping a close eye on Venis, who was hovering nervously over Rodney's shoulder as he studied the console. "Where are you?"

"In the room with the locked door," Jennifer said. "I think it's a control room. At least, it has a big console, and I've figured out the scanner part, and the communications, which I guess were already on emergency power, but nothing else was. But then I turned on the backup power like Rodney said, and everything started up. I'm sorry! I should have realized that would happen, but I didn't think—"

"Calm down," Teyla said. "You also found the forcefield generator, right?"

"I did?" Jennifer said, studying the console. She must have hit something else when she was trying to find the communication system.

"Yes, because we're trapped in here," Teyla said patiently.

"I thought I'd just locked the doors. Um…" Jennifer said, and then saw a button that was lit that she didn't remember seeing lit before. The button had a series of symbols in Ancient on it. Jennifer screwed her eyes shut, trying to remember her Ancient lessons. _Something about a wall?_ "Okay, I think maybe I found it."

"Good," Teyla said. "See if you can figure out how to turn them off selectively."

"You there," Venis said, looking up at where she stood on the landing. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to remember what my people know of Oz," she said smoothly. "There was a statue of her on one of the planets we traded with, and there was a phrase, but I can't seem to remember what it was exactly."

"A phrase?" Rodney said, and then nodded. "Right. It could be important. Sometimes the Ancients used control phrases to access systems."

"It was something about power," Teyla said, as if talking to herself. "With great power comes great responsibility…no, that's not it…" She trailed off thoughtfully, and Venis turned back to watch Rodney.

"Teyla, do you know how to drill down into subsystems on these consoles?" Jennifer said. "I know I must have activated the whole thing, but there has to be a way—"

"Power," Teyla murmured. "Power to console? No, but that's closer. It has to be something close to that…"

"Huh?" Jennifer said, and then realized what Teyla was doing. "Power to a console," she said. "Oh! Got it!" She looked around the room at some of the other stations, and saw there was one that had a button lit. She ran over to it, and there was a screen with a map of the complex, and lit bars across all the doors. "You're a genius, Teyla. Okay, so if I hit this here," she said to herself, tapping a button, "then…" One of the light bars disappeared. "Yes! Look, Teyla, can you get the guys away from whoever it is that has you? I can get a forcefield in place."

"No," Teyla murmured.

"Damn," Jennifer said. _Wait_, she thought. _Maybe __I__ can…_ She ran back to the main console and turned on the communication system.

"Fools!" she said. "Did you think I would not notice the gate opening again?"

"Uh-oh," Sheppard said. "Rodney, any luck with the forcefield?"

"The gate?" Venis said. "Your people would not be here so soon, would they?"

"I have destroyed your ship. There will not be any rescue from the gate. Your life support has been cut off. Soon, you will suffocate, while I will return to my sleep," Jennifer said. She closed the channel.

"Damn you!" Venis said to Sheppard. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault?" Sheppard said. "You were the one who just had to come in here. We'd still be down in the town, helping those people, if you hadn't barged in."

"Rodney," Jennifer said over the communicator, "tell them you got the forcefield down."

"Uh, guys?" Rodney said, "I think I got it!"

Venis whirled to look at him. "The forcefield?"

"Yeah," Rodney said. "Give it a try."

Venis nodded at one of his men, who edged up to the archway and poked his gun barrel at it. Nothing happened. He took a careful step forward into the hall, and then broke into a run.

"Come on," Sheppard said to Rodney, motioning him over to help with Ronon. "Let's get out of here!"

"No!" Jennifer hissed. "Let those guys get out first!" She opened the complex communicator again. "What have you done?" she shouted. "You cannot escape my wrath so easily!" The forcefield flared into life as the last of the Genii dashed through the archway. It caught the Genii partway through, then spat him out onto the other side, where he hit the wall hard and lay still.

"Good work, Doc," Sheppard said quietly so the retreating Genii wouldn't hear. "When we get home, I'm buying you a cold one."

"Thanks," Jennifer said, sounding vastly relieved.

"Now open that door and let us in so we can figure out where we go from here," he said.

"Right," Jennifer said. "Hang on."

"You are not authorized to operate this installation," a voice said from behind Jennifer.

Jennifer squeaked, whirling around to find one of the Ancient holograms studying her like an insect. It was an older woman, taller than Jennifer, with graying hair and a stony expression. "Sorry," Jennifer said, her hand to her chest, trying to calm her heart. "I…uh…I am from Earth. I'm part of an expedition—"

"Uh, Doc, who're you talking to?" Sheppard said.

"This facility is no longer safe for habitation," the hologram said.

"Hold, please," Jennifer said to Sheppard, and closed the channel.

"You all must leave this facility immediately. Why have you trapped those people?" the hologram said, gesturing at the screen showing the life signs of her team.

"I haven't trapped them," Jennifer said. "The other life signs, the ones on the other side of the forcefield, they were trying to hurt us, and take this installation. I had to stop them."

The hologram frowned. "This facility is no longer safe for habitation," she repeated. "You must leave immediately. I will lower the forcefield."

"No!" Jennifer shouted. "You can't, not yet! The men on the other side of the forcefield have weapons. My friends don't. If you lower the forcefield, they will be killed. You can't allow them to come to harm, can you?"

The hologram frowned. "I am not programmed to harm. You must leave this installation."

Jennifer felt her stomach sink. "Why?"

"The mineral composition of the surrounding rock is dangerous to human life. Exposure can result in damage to the respiratory-"

"Never mind," Jennifer said grimly. "I know what the damage looks like." _So I was right_, she thought. _This is related to an environmental factor, and it's serious enough the Ancients bailed on the place._ She shook herself. "But that damage can only take place after extended exposure," she said to the hologram. "We've only been in here a few minutes. You can let us—"

"The concentrations of the dangerous compounds have intensified due to the failure of the ventilation systems," the hologram said patiently. "Exposure for more than an hour is likely to cause significant harm."

Jennifer's eyes went wide. _Great_, she thought. _Now I have a deadline, too. And I have to add in the time I spent in the cellar..._ "Okay," she said slowly. "So how about if you zap those guys outside with something?"

The hologram studied her, blinking in confusion. "I am not familiar with the term 'zap.'"

"Blast, shock, electrocute!" Jennifer said impatiently.

"I am not programmed to harm," the hologram said.

"I'm not asking you to do permanent damage," Jennifer said. "Just incapacitate them long enough for us to leave this installation like you want us to do!"

"External defense systems are offline due to low power," the hologram said.

Jennifer sighed in frustration. "Of course they are," she said, annoyed. "Fine. You're here, you know your systems, why don't you figure out how to get us out of here safely!?"

The hologram continued to frown. "I cannot assist anyone not authorized to operate this installation. You must leave immediately. This—"

"Okay, look," Jennifer said, biting back her frustration. She held her hands out placatingly. "My name is Dr. Jennifer Keller," she began, "I'm from At—"

"You spoke as 'Oz,'" the hologram interrupted. "Why do you lie?"

"I'm not lying to you," Jennifer said desperately. "I was lying to them!" She gestured at the retreating life signs.

"I cannot assist you," she said. "And I cannot allow any of you to remain in this installation."

"We don't want to stay here," Jennifer said, "we just need to wait a little—" and out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the forcefield symbols pop up on the screen. "No, no, no! Look, the people I was trying to protect are authorized to operate this installation!" _Please, let the Ancient gene be enough to convince her_, Jennifer prayed. "They are descendants of the Ancients who went to Earth, the ones who abandoned Atlantis."

The hologram studied her for a moment, her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, for god's sake," Jennifer said, turning back to the console. "How do you do the scan—?"

There was a bright light, and Jennifer had an instant to think, _Son of a __bitch__,_ before she lost consciousness.

* * *

"Does somebody want to tell me who this Oz is?" Ronon said, sitting up and looking annoyed.

"Long story," Rodney said. "We'll tell you all about it when we get back to Atlantis. For now, we just need to figure out how to get out of here."

"Only Jennifer's not talking to us," Sheppard said.

"So we try to get the door open," Rodney said.

"I thought you said they were like watertight doors," Sheppard said.

"Of course I did," Rodney said patiently. "To that guy. The last thing I wanted was for him to get into a control room."

"Okay, so open the door," Sheppard said.

Rodney climbed the stairs back up to the door and spent several minutes looking around the door.

"Rodney?" Sheppard prompted.

Rodney glanced over at him, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well, it's not impossible," he said, "but…"

"Great," Sheppard said. "Hey, Jennifer, come on out."

There was no answer.

"Oh, Oz," Rodney called. "Come out from behind the curtain."

Sheppard exchanged a look with Teyla. "Jennifer?" Teyla said. "Can you hear us?"

"Oh, that's just great," Rodney said, shaking his head. "Somehow she managed to find a well in here."

"I knew you were lying!" Venis said, coming up to the forcefield and glaring angrily at Teyla and Ronon through it. "You thought you could trick us into leaving, but we are not so foolish! There is no Oz!"

"Ah, just let him in here," Ronon said. "I'm getting sick of this guy."

"Come on, Rodney, get that door open!" Sheppard muttered. "If we lose those forcefields, we'll have more than just Keller to worry about."

"I'm working on it," Rodney said impatiently. "Wait! Got it!" He pulled at something, and an access panel came off. "I don't have any of my tools with me, though, so it's going to be a little more difficult."

"Would this help?" Ronon said, coming up and handing over a multitool.

"Yes!" Rodney said, grabbing it and turning back to the panel.

"How'd you manage that?" Sheppard said. "Weren't your hands tied?"

Ronon just gave him a look.

"Yeah, never mind," Sheppard said. "Listen, why don't you two see if you can find us a fallback position. Don't go too far, though. I want you back here if we get this open."

"When," Rodney corrected.

"Got it," Ronon said. He turned back to look around the room, and noticed that Venis had several of his men poking at the forcefield with their guns. It wasn't repelling them the way it had the others, and it was looking a little strange. "Uh, guys?"

Sheppard looked over his shoulder and saw what Ronon was looking at. "Rodney," he said. "Does that mean we need to hurry?"

Rodney glanced back, then turned quickly back to the panel.

"Jennifer," Sheppard could hear Teyla calling over the comm. "Please respond."

_What the hell happened to her?_ he thought, worried.

* * *

"Jennifer," Sheppard's voice came over the comm. "If you can hear me, we really, really need you to open that door, okay?"

_I haven't had a drink in weeks_, Jennifer thought vaguely. _So why do I have a hangover?_

She opened her eyes and there was the base of an Atlantean-style console in front of her. _Oh, yeah_, she thought, remembering what had happened. Or most of it, anyway.

"Do not attempt to operate the controls again," the hologram said as she slowly sat up, her head pounding.

Jennifer looked over at it, and all at once, she lost it.

"Oh, you did not just zap me!" she said furiously, struggling to her feet, swaying slightly. "It's bad enough that since I got to Atlantis, I've been shot at, dumped in a hole, nearly turned into a Wraith ship, shot at again, chased by Wraith, shot at again and chased off a cliff! That's all par for the course in this infuriating galaxy! But not only does all that happen to me, but every single time I go off-world, I end up unconscious! Well, this is it! I have had it!"

The hologram looked steadily at her, but there was faint confusion in her eyes.

"None of this is my fault! None of it, do you hear me? I didn't ask for those guys," she pointed at the life signs behind the forcefield, "to show up here. I came here to help the people in that town—who, by the way, are sick because of the mineral compounds you keep telling me are so dangerous—and everything else that happened is because of those guys. So here is what's going to happen. You," she said, stepping close to the hologram and pointing at her face, "are going to stop being a stupid, cryptic, unhelpful Ancient hologram. You are going to zap those guys outside like you just zapped me. And you are going to open up that door right now, understand? And if a shark shows up, there better be a goddamned cure for cancer in here, or I swear, I'm gonna—!"

The door opened.

Jennifer looked over her shoulder to find Rodney and the Colonel staring at her. She turned back to the hologram. "Thank you!" she said angrily.

"Are you okay?" Colonel Sheppard said warily.

"No, I am not okay!" Jennifer said. "I'm not at all okay! You!" she pointed at Sheppard. "Tell this life-sized Microsoft paperclip to start helping! You!" she pointed at Rodney, "give me ibuprofen right the hell now!"

Sheppard glanced sidelong at Rodney, who looked wide-eyed back at him.

"Did I stutter?!" Jennifer snapped.

"Uh, Rodney," Sheppard said. "Ibuprofen. Teyla, Ronon, we're in. Get on back here." He smiled tentatively at Jennifer, then walked around her to stand in front of the hologram. "I think we got off on the wrong foot," he said. "I'm Colonel John Sheppard, and you must be...uh...Oz."

"No," Jennifer said derisively. She dry-swallowed the ibuprofen Rodney gingerly handed her. "I'm Oz. This thing showed up later, after I did all the heavy lifting. And then she had the gall to knock me out!"

"Jennifer," Teyla said, skidding into the control room with Ronon right behind her. "I'm so glad you're all right."

The lights flickered, and the hologram blinked out for a moment, then came back, though it was fainter. "Power levels are at twenty-five percent," she said.

"Oh, great," Rodney said. "So much for finding a functioning Zed P.M."

"All non-essential systems are being powered down," the hologram said, and the console showing the forcefields went dark.

"Wait! Shut the d—!" Jennifer snapped, but the hologram was gone. And the door was still open. "Oh, you stupid hologram!"

"Rodney?" Sheppard said. "You might want to...ah..." He waved vaguely at the door.

"I have the most powerful intellect in two galaxies, and all I get asked to do is open and shut doors," Rodney muttered, stomping over to the door. "I should work at the Ritz. At least I'd get tips."

"Hurry!" Teyla said, looking over her shoulder. "They're coming!"

Rodney yanked at something on the panel with the multitool pliers, then ducked into the control room as the doors slid shut, bullets from the Genii pinging off the doorframe beside him.

"Okay," Sheppard said brightly. "This is good. We're in here, they're out there. We can just wait till Atlantis sends somebody looking for us. Could be worse."

"DON'T say that!" Jennifer said, rubbing her temples.

"It's worse," Rodney said from where he'd gone over to look at the console.

Jennifer shot Sheppard a deadly look.

"Worse how?" Sheppard said, beating a hasty retreat over to Rodney and looking over his shoulder.

"Life support is failing," Rodney said grimly. "Those guys out there'll be just fine—they're not cut off from the outside, so they can leave. But we're sealed in here. And I mean sealed. Airtight."

"And if we open the door," Teyla said equally grimly, "we'll be in a firefight."

"With no fire," Sheppard finished. "Okay, so maybe it's not so good." He paused. "How long do we have?"

"That's the good news: a long time," Rodney said. "Judging from the size of the room and the number of us in here. Figure about 5000 cubic feet, with five of us—"

"Oxygen isn't the problem," Jennifer said acidly. "I was right. There's something toxic in the air. That's why the villagers have been getting sick. The hologram told me we couldn't stay here because it wasn't safe, and kept trying to shut down the forcefields. The idiot. But she was right about the air. We need to get out of here. Fast."

Sheppard sighed, rubbing one hand through his hair, then paused. "What's that?" he said, pointing at a spot on the console.

"Huh?" Rodney said, glancing over from where he'd been studying the power readouts. "What does it look like? It's a hallway."

"Yeah," Sheppard said patiently. "But a hallway from what to what?"

Rodney looked at it, then blinked. "There's another way out," he said.

Jennifer looked at what Sheppard had pointed out. "And I know where that goes," she said. "That's the way I came in." She didn't sound happy about it.

"You mean, the cliff?" Rodney said.

"That's perfect," Sheppard said. "They only left one guy up there. We play our cards right, and we can get out of here without a firefight. Rodney, you see if you can figure out how to get that back door open."

"Again with the doors!" Rodney said irritably.

"Well, can you get the life support going?" Sheppard said, equally irritated.

Rodney looked like he'd just found a chicken foot in his soup. "Okay, okay," he said. "I'll open the stupid door."

Jennifer sighed and sank down to sit against the main console and leaned her face against the palm of her hand.

"So what's the plan when we get to the cliff?" Ronon said.

"How hard is it to get up to the top?" Sheppard asked Jennifer.

Jennifer's face fell as she looked up. "For you?" she said. "Piece of cake. It's maybe…three meters to the top, four at the most. And there are almost steps, like there might have been a stairway a long time ago, but it's worn away."

"Don't worry, Doc," Sheppard said. "We'll go up first and take out the guy at the top, and then we'll get you up there safe, okay?"

Jennifer sighed. "God, I'm pathetic."

"No," Sheppard said. "Rodney's pathetic, you're—"

"Hey!" Rodney said indignantly.

"—you're just human," Sheppard finished, grinning.

"Yeah," Ronon said. "Besides, today you've been making me look pathetic."

Jennifer snorted. "Yeah, right."

"I mean it," Ronon said. "You didn't see me getting away from those guys, did you?"

Jennifer stared at him. "I just assumed you let yourself get caught," she said, wide-eyed.

"Oh," Ronon said, looking embarrassed.

"I don't think this was a finest hour for any of us," Sheppard said sourly. "Except for you. I meant it when I said I owed you a beer."

"He's right," Rodney said from the door. "If it weren't for you, we'd still be dealing with Captain Penis out there."

"Yeah," Sheppard said, grinning. "Doing Oz was pure genius."

"Thanks," Jennifer said, smiling a watery smile at him. "I got lucky. I normally suck at improv." She blinked, then looked over at Rodney. "Wait…did you say Captain Penis?"

Rodney grinned sheepishly. "Well, it's actually Venis, but…I mean…seriously, who could resist that one?"

Jennifer rolled her eyes, and then coughed. She frowned, swallowing, then tried to catch her breath. And coughed hard again.

"Jennifer?" Teyla said, concerned.

"'m okay," Jennifer said breathlessly, hoping none of them would question her any further. "Just…a tickle." She took a tentative breath. "I got a mouthful of dust when I landed on the balcony."

"Rodney, how close are you?" Sheppard asked.

"I can open it now," Rodney said, getting up from where he'd knelt at an access panel by the door.

"Any chance you can get the sensors up? I'd really rather not open the door on the Gonad of Justice," Sheppard said, and Jennifer laughed, but it turned into a series of racking coughs.

"On it," Rodney said, glancing nervously at Jennifer as he knelt next to her at the console. "Gimme a minute, and we'll know where he and Testicle Boy are."

"You have been here longer than any of us, Jennifer," Teyla said, her hand on Jennifer's shoulder. "Could the toxin in the air be affecting you faster?"

Jennifer grimaced. _I should have known Teyla wouldn't let it go_. "It could be a cumulative effect," she conceded, breathing shallowly.

"What are the other symptoms?" Sheppard said.

Jennifer looked up at him, and hesitated.

"C'mon, Doc, if it is this air," he said, waving his hand, "we need to know what it's gonna do."

Jennifer nodded. "Headache is the—" She broke off, shaking her head. "God, I'm an idiot. Headache. I've had a headache all day."

"Right," Sheppard said. "Headache, then what?"

"Irritability—"

"I'd say that's a yes," Rodney said, and Jennifer glared at him.

"The cough. Then dizziness, shortness of breath, weakness. It looks a lot like a respiratory infe—" She broke off, coughing, and leaned on one hand, her other wrapping around her ribs. "Ow," she said faintly once the coughing stopped.

"Rodney," Sheppard said.

"Hang on," Rodney said. "I'm having to use the power source from my scanner, and—"

"Just get it done," Sheppard said. "We're gonna have a lot harder time getting out of here if we're all coughing."

"I'm sorry," Jennifer said miserably.

"Don't be," Rodney said, attaching leads from his scanner to the underside of the console. "You managed not to get a broken ankle. And you haven't been caught by those guys out there. So you're batting .500. Besides, we have a way out of here. We'll be back on Atlantis breathing clean air in no time."

"Batting .500?" Jennifer said. "What's that supposed to—?"

There was a faint thump from the front door.

"Great," Sheppard said. "Well, at least we know one of them's out there."

"Got it," Rodney said, and scrambled out from under the console. He pressed a series of buttons on the console, and looked at the screen. "Actually, it looks like most of them are out there."

"Most of them?" Sheppard said, sounding resigned.

"Two of them are at the entrance we came in," Rodney said, pointing. "But there are three others. I think they're exploring the rest of the complex."

Sheppard studied the console. "Okay, it looks like we can make it if we go right now. Fast." He turned and knelt next to Jennifer. "Listen, Doc…" he began, looking intently at her.

"I know, I'll try not to cough," she said. She started to her feet, then swayed, grabbing for the console, and Teyla took hold of her arm to steady her. "Sorry," Jennifer said, blinking. "Got up too fast."

Sheppard turned to Rodney. "Kill the lights and then open the door. We gotta get out of here now."

"Be careful. There are probably steps up. The hallway I came in was…" Jennifer thought hard. "About ten steps above this level."

Rodney nodded, and hit a button on the console. The lights went out, and Sheppard turned on the small lantern Venis had given him. He shone it on the access panel by the door and Rodney pulled at something with the multitool.

Sheppard killed the lantern as the door slid open silently. He poked his head out the door, then slapped Ronon's arm to get him to follow.

Rodney fumbled his way through the dark over to Jennifer, bumping roughly into her and almost sending her to the floor before Teyla steadied her. "Sorry," he whispered, and then she felt him take her hand. "Don't worry—I've got you."

Jennifer smiled and squeezed his hand as he and Teyla helped her feel her way to the door and out. She could hear the faint sound of Sheppard's footsteps ahead of her and tried not to think about who else might be able to hear them.

They made their way up the steps she'd predicted, and out into the long hallway. The steps down must have been on the opposite side from the wall she'd felt her way down, Jennifer thought, and was glad of it. She'd probably have fallen down them if she'd come down that side.

She held her breath as long as she could, but finally she had to take a careful breath. Amazingly, it didn't set her off, and she thanked the universe for that. Rodney squeezed her hand again, and she was immeasurably glad he was there. Somehow the dark and the danger and the cough weren't nearly as frightening with him—

_I'm an idiot_, she thought. _I'm such an idiot. Why on earth have I been fighting this so hard? It's not like he's bad to look at. He's no Ronon, but he has lovely eyes. And yes, he has an enormous ego, but unlike most guys, he actually deserves it. How many girls can say they're with a guy who's saved the world more than once? And he's been so sweet to me, especially—_

She suddenly became aware of a faint light ahead, and they came around a curve to see the balcony about fifty meters ahead. She breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately felt the tickle in her throat. _Oh, no—_

Jennifer tried to hold it in, tilting her head back and clamping her free hand over her mouth, but the cough came anyway. It came out as a strangled sound, but a sound nonetheless, and it echoed down the long hallway.

Sheppard turned back and waved them forward wildly, and they moved ahead more confidently now that they could see where they were going. Jennifer hoped it was fast enough. _At least the curve will keep us from being seen from the end_, she thought.

"Okay," Sheppard whispered, his voice barely audible, when they got to the balcony. "Ronon will go first, then me. We'll take out the guy at the top, then the three of you will follow."

Jennifer swallowed hard, closing her eyes and trying not to think about her last experience on the cliff.

Ronon climbed out onto the railing like he was going out for a stroll, and Sheppard followed him just as easily.

"I will go ahead of you," Teyla whispered. "Rodney, you will come behind her, all right?"

"Yeah," Rodney said, leaning against the wall, clearly trying to look nonchalant, but Jennifer knew he wasn't much better than she was with heights.

There was a sound from outside, and then Sheppard's voice. "Come on!"

Teyla clambered out on the railing. "Just do as I do, Jennifer," she said.

"Stop right there!" a voice rang out from down the hallway.

Jennifer whirled and saw Captain Venis and his men running after them. _Oh, hell_, she thought. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Teyla's worried face. "Go!" she hissed, and turned back to Venis. "We surrender!" she said. "There's no way I'm going out there, not after what happened to them!"

Venis skidded to a halt in front of her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, they got zapped!" Jennifer said, letting all the stress of the day come out of her voice. "All three of them! They're dead!" She felt tears roll down her face, and was proud of herself for being able to cry on command. Though she doubted she'd have been able to do it if she hadn't already been pushed to the breaking point.

Venis pushed past her and looked out and up. He frowned, and turned back to his men and pointed at two of them. "You, get out there and find them."

"Sure," Rodney said grimly. "Go ahead. It's your funeral."

The two men hesitated, glancing uneasily at each other.

"They're lying, you idiots!" Venis said. "Raden, contact your man on the cliff."

"Henik," Raden said, "report."

There was no response.

"They must have taken him," Venis said. "Get up there, now!"

"Or maybe Henik got zapped, too," one of them said stubbornly. "I'm not going."

Venis fumed, and for a moment, Jennifer was afraid he was going to shoot them, but he finally turned to look at her. "You must be Oz," he said venomously.

"Um, sort of," she said nervously. "I came in here, found the control room, and there was a hologram, and I—"

He backhanded her, and she fell hard.

"Hey!" Rodney said, lunging after him, and two of the men grabbed him, barely holding him back as he struggled wildly in their grasp. "You son of a—"

"You will lead me to this control room," Venis said, looming over Jennifer, who lay stunned, tasting blood in her mouth. "And you will show me how you accessed this hologram."

Jennifer didn't answer, still blinking in shock at having been hit, and Venis gestured to his men to pick her up.

"Leave her alone!" Rodney shouted, and Venis turned and held his gun to Rodney's chin.

"You will stop, or I'll shoot you now. Or maybe I should shoot her first," he said.

Rodney's look could have frozen plasma, but he stopped struggling.

"The control room," Venis said to Jennifer, who was barely standing, the two men holding her up.

"It's…" she began, and blinked. "It's back down the hall."

They made their way back down to the control room, Jennifer managing to find her feet by the time they got there.

"You okay?" Rodney said worriedly.

"I'll live," she said, not trusting herself to nod. She was feeling more than a bit dizzy.

"Shut up," Venis snapped. "Show me this hologram."

"The power's down," Rodney said. "I can bring up the emergency power if you—"

"I want her to do it," Venis said.

Jennifer made it over to the main console and pressed the button Rodney had told her to use.

"Power levels are below twenty-five percent," the hologram said, springing to life behind them, and one of the Genii wheeled and fired, the sound of the shot deafening in the enclosed space.

"You idiot," Venis said. "It isn't real."

"This facility is no longer safe for habitation," the hologram said. "You all must leave this facility immediately."

"Not until I get what I want," Venis growled. "Where are your weapons?"

The hologram studied him for a moment. "This facility is no longer safe for habitation," the hologram said again. "You all must leave this facility immediately."

Venis clenched his fist, and turned to look at the console, shoving Jennifer aside. She staggered, one of the Genii steadying her. Venis started punching buttons randomly, and suddenly there was a blinding flash.

Jennifer closed her eyes, expecting to lose consciousness again, and almost looking forward to it, but instead she felt the man holding her up collapse, and she fell with him. When she opened her eyes, everyone else in the room was out cold. Including Rodney.

She looked back at the hologram. "You must leave this facility immediately," it said.

"Yeah," Jennifer said. "I got that. Thanks for the help. Finally." She struggled to her feet and looked around. She spotted Ronon's blaster on one of the Genii and grabbed it, tucking it into her jacket, then turned to Rodney and sighed, which immediately led to another series of racking coughs. "Oh, this day just gets better and better," she murmured when she could catch her breath. She bent over, grabbed Rodney under the shoulders and started to drag him towards the door.

The hologram studied her as she went, and Jennifer heard the door whoosh open behind her. She looked up. "You know, this would all have been a lot easier if you'd just done this an hour ago."

"I could not trust you an hour ago," the hologram said. "Do not return to this facility."

"Don't worry," Jennifer said, "there's no place like home," and dragged Rodney through the door.

"All non-essential systems are being powered down," the hologram said, and the facility went dark.

Jennifer felt her way down the stairs, struggling under Rodney's weight, and hoped she could make it out of the building before she collapsed. She made it to the hallway she'd seen Sheppard come through however long ago that had been, and started down it. She made it far enough to see daylight reflecting off the walls around her, then froze as she heard something.

She set Rodney down with a thump and whirled, pulling out Ronon's blaster and pointing it toward the sound. She had to catch herself on the wall as she started to tilt, and the blaster wavered as her arm shook. "Welcome to the party, pal! You'd better get the hell out of here, because I'm pissed off enough to just start shooting." She fired a shot randomly to make her point.

"Jesus, hold your fire, Doc!" she heard, and Sheppard came around a corner, looking stunned in the dim light.

"Oh, thank god," she said, and let the blaster drop to her side.

"What happened to Rodney?" Teyla said.

"He's okay, he just got zapped along with Dick-boy and his minions," Jennifer said as they came up. "Here," she said, handing Ronon his blaster. "I got your toy back." She leaned heavily against the wall.

Ronon looked blankly at the blaster, then back at her. "Who's pathetic?" he rumbled under his breath.

"You okay, Doc?" Sheppard said, taking her arm as Teyla knelt next to Rodney.

"No, not really," she said. "But we need to get out of here. They won't be out for long, and I don't trust Oz to keep them in there."

"Roger that," Sheppard said. "Ronon, grab Rodney and let's get the hell out of Oz."

"Ha, poison poppies can't keep this guy down for long," Rodney said, rolling onto his knees and staggering to his feet. "I take it our Ancient friend finally decided to make herself useful?"

"Something like that," Jennifer said, glancing nervously back at the long hallway. "But if you're up, then…"

"Yeah," Rodney said. "Let's go. I can close the front door on the way out, give us a little more time."

Jennifer pushed herself off the wall and wavered. Ronon stepped forward, scooped her up into his arms, making her yelp, and set off at a run for the door.

The others followed and after Rodney closed the door behind them, they started back towards the village.

"You can put me down," Jennifer said from Ronon's arms. "I can walk."

"Not as fast as I can carry you," Ronon said practically.

Jennifer pursed her lips, but didn't protest. Instead, she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, wishing she could just pass out so the dizziness would stop. _God, don't let me throw up all over his pretty dreadlocks_, she thought fervently.

"I hope that bastard gets out here before we go," Rodney muttered darkly.

"Easy there, Bronson," Sheppard said. "I'd rather get home so we can call in the cavalry. They can kick his ass for you, okay?"

They'd almost made it to the village when there was a sound from behind them. Ronon set Jennifer down and turned, raising his blaster.

"You have been nothing but trouble!" Venis said, marching up behind them with his men, guns at the ready. "Well, that ends now!"

"Oh, no, not again," Jennifer murmured, leaning tiredly against Rodney.

"Put down your weapons," Woolsey's voice said, booming out from the puddle jumper that suddenly decloaked above them. "I will not ask twice."

Venis looked up at the puddle jumper, his mouth working soundlessly in fury, but he slowly laid his weapon on the ground, and his men followed suit.

Sheppard glanced at his watch. "Look at that. Eighteen-oh-four." He grinned happily at Jennifer. "I never thought I'd be glad for Woolsey being such a punctual pain in the ass."

Rodney turned, looked at Ronon, who nodded and reached over to steady Jennifer, and Rodney walked over and punched Venis in the nose.

* * *

"Jennifer," Teyla said, coming into the infirmary the next morning. "How are you?"

"I'm feeling much better with the oxygen," Jennifer said. "The cough isn't nearly as bad. But Dr. Voight is being the infirmary nazi again, and he's keeping me till I'm not coughing at all, and my O2 sats go up another two points. Which, even with the treatment we developed, will take another week at least."

"That's great!" Rodney said, coming in with Sheppard and Ronon trailing him, and then, at Jennifer's sour look, "Not that you're stuck here, I mean. That you're feeling better. But wait…if you're stuck here…then…" He trailed off, looking dismayed.

Jennifer took pity on him. "I know, the beer will have to wait," she said. "But I haven't forgotten. How's the hand?"

"It really hurts," Rodney said, wiggling his fingers in the cast. "But it was totally worth it." He gave her a look that set butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

"So, uh, what about Mereth and the others?" Jennifer asked Sheppard to defuse the situation.

"All relocated, safe and sound. Mereth said to tell you she's doing much better," Sheppard said.

Jennifer sighed in relief. "That's good to know. I was afraid long-term exposure might have done more damage."

"Apparently not," Sheppard said. "Speaking of damage, I've been meaning to ask you, Rodney. Where did you send Captain Penis and his pals?"

Rodney looked smug.

"Rodney, you did not send them to one of those gates in space, did you?" Teyla said, aghast.

"Of course not," Rodney said, "even though he deserved it for hitting Jennifer. No, you remember M4X-282?"

Sheppard frowned, thinking, then looked delighted. "The one we had to send a puddle jumper through to rescue the MALP?"

"The very one," Rodney said.

"Nice," Ronon rumbled.

"I don't get it," Jennifer said.

"The gate there's on a cliff that collapsed," Sheppard said. "There's about a fifteen-foot drop right on the other side, and the DHD is broken. They won't be going anywhere for a very long time."

"Good," Jennifer said fervently. "So, are you here to break me out of this joint? I hate being a patient, and I've spent way too much time as one in my own infirmary." She sighed, leaning her head back against her pillow and staring at the ceiling. "The ceiling isn't even interesting. I really should do something about that."

"No breakout, I'm afraid," Sheppard said. "I know better than to piss off a doctor. But at least we have something better to look at than the ceiling." He pulled up a cart with an extra-large monitor on it and a laptop.

Jennifer blinked at him. "What?"

"Movie night, or day, rather," Rodney said, coming around to pull up a chair next to her on the other side of the bed, with Ronon coming up to sit on the next bed. "These two have some cultural references to catch up on."

"Cultural references?" Jennifer said, a smile creeping onto her face as she realized what he must mean.

"Yep," Sheppard said. "We have quite a marathon. First up, The Wizard of Oz, followed by Galaxy Quest, and then, if you're still up for it, a tribute to you saving our collective asses."

Jennifer raised an eyebrow.

"Die Hard," Sheppard said, grinning.

"Come on," Rodney said, smiling wickedly at her. "Say it. You know you want to."

"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker," Jennifer said, grinning.


End file.
